Abstract:

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Supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO2) was used as a processing medium for the
fabrication of drug encapsulated poly(DL-lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) monoliths for
their potential application in the controlled release of water soluble drugs. Exposure of
PLGA to scCO2 leads to effective plasticization and liquefaction due to the high solubility
and interaction of the scCO2 in the copolymer. By exploiting this property, it was
demonstrated that prolonged release formulations of molsidomine, a peripheral
nitrovasodilator used to treat angina pectoris, can be prepared by chemical solvent-free,
scCO2 assisted drug impregnation method. The in-vitro dissolution studies revealed that
the release rates of drug from the porous polymer monoliths containing different amount
of the drug samples were significantly retarded due to encapsulation of molsidomine into
the PLGA matrix.